Waste disposal apparatus



Sept. 20, 1949. J. H. POWERS WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 2 Sheds-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 12, 1946 Fig.1.

Inventor: James H. owers,

His Attorney.

Sept. 20, 1949. J. H. POWERS 2,482,125

WASTE DIsPosAL APPARATUS Filed Jan. 12, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Inventor James H. Powers by W His Attorney.

Patented 20, 1949 WAST E DISPOSAL APPARATUS James II. Powers, Westport, Com, asaignor to 2 General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application January 12, 1946. Serial No. 640,218

6 Claims. (01. 241-40) This application is a continuation in part of my application Serial No. 532,251, flied April 22, 1944, now abandoned.

The invention relates to apparatus for the disposal of waste material, and particularly to apparatus for attachment to a sink drain for receiving a mixture of garbage and water and reducing or comminuting the solid particles to produce a flowable mixture suitable for discharge to the sink drain line. The normal sink drainage ggews through the apparatus when it is not in The object of my invention is to provide an improved apparatus of this type, and in particular to provide apparatus which will more effectively handle the normal sink drainage.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a waste disposal device embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a flywheel;-Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the impeller blades; Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a detail; Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of modifications; Fig. 8 is an exploded perspective" view of the flywheel shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a waste disposal device having a frusto conical casingor chamber I fixed to and depending from the drain opening 2 of a sink 3. At the lower end of the casing is a bottom flange 4 carrying an electric motor 5 clamped against a shoulder 6 in the casing by a clamping ring I. The bottom flange is provided with an outlet 8 for connection with the sink drain line. The bottom flange is enclosed by a removable shield 9 depending from the casing and blending into the motor.

In the lower end of the casing is a frusto conical wall Ill clamped between a shoulder H on the bottom flange and a shoulder |2 on the casing which deflnes a shredding chamber i. Rubber rings II and I4 arranged between the shredding chamber wall and the shoulders prevent the transmission of vibrations. At the lower end of the shredding chamber is a fly-wheel l threaded on the motor shaft it on the upper side of which is a replaceable disk I! of wear-resisting material clamped against circumferentially spaced radially extending ribs is and It on the upper surface of the fly-wheel by suitable bolts I! which project through openings I!" in the fly-wheel and thread into tapped openings in bosses I!" on disk II. The ribs l9. which are much wider than the ribs II. are provided with radial recesses 20 for receiving pairs of cars 2| depending from the lower side of the disk ll. Each pair of cars 2| defines a slot 22 for receiving an impeller blade 23 pivoted on a pin 24 extending between the ears 2|. The ends of pins 24 are positioned in holes in ears 2|. The impeller blades are biased by gravity and by springs 24' toward the dotted line position in Fig. l and are moved outward by centrifugal force to the full-line position when the flywheel is rotated. Springs 24 are located in annular recesses 24 in the blades and have outturned ends located in openings 2 in the blades and notches 24 in ears 2|. ment of the impeller blades is limited by stop lugs 25 on the blades 23 which engage the under side of the disk I! as shown in Fig. 1. In the outer position the impeller blades are in shearing cooperation with toothed shredding members 26 fastened in recesses 21 in the lower end of the shredding chamber wall Ill. Three shredding members are provided uniformly spaced around the shredding chamber which otherwise has a smooth inner surface. Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the impeller blades 23 are positioned on radii of the flywheel so that they are at right angles to walls ill and pass the shredding members 26 at right angles thereto. In operation, the impeller blades cause a mixture of water and garbage to be whirled around the shredding chamber at a speed such that the solid particles are moved outward bycentrifugal force and reduced or comminuted by being tumbled against the teeth of the shredding members. There is also a further comminuting action resulting from the shearing action between the impeller blades and the shredding members. Since the impeller blades are freely pivoted, the possibility of jamming reduced. Due to centrifugal action the whirling mixture of garbage and water is in the form of an annulus adjacent the side walls of the shredding chamber and having its upper end extending into the upper part of the casing. Water and garbage falling on the center of the fly-wheel are quickly moved outward by centrifugal force, and the movement across the upper surface .of the disk has a scouring action which keeps this surface clean. To prevent jamming of solid material between the impeller blades and the shredding projections, the outer edges 28 of the impeller blades are provided with a bevel 2s flaring inwardly away from the shredding elements. When solid material is caught between the shredding elements and the bevels 29, a force is developed tending to pivot the impeller blades inward and relieve the forces which might otherwise cause jamming. The forward face of each The outward move- 3 impeller blade as regards the direction of rotation of flywheel l5. that is the face which engages directly the material being comminuted, is provided with a beveled surface 3| which slopes radially inwardly and backwardly as regards the direction of rotation.

When the machine is operating, these beveled surfaces engage material being comminuted and direct it toward the center of the shredding chamber. The deflected material is returned by cen trifugal force to the whirling annulusso that a continuous-turnover of the solid material is produced. Also, these beveled surfaces 3| by directing material to be comminuted toward the center of the shredding chamber serve to limit the speed of grinding so that it is not too rapid, the beveled surfaces 3| having an extent such that the desired rapidity of grinding is obtained. The rear face 30 of the impeller blade may be flat.

It is important that the material being comminuted rotate with the flywheel and to better insure th s, I provide preferably in the vicinity of the central portion of the flywheel a plurality of projections or lugs 3| (two being shown in the present instance) which engage such material and help to carry it along with the flywheel. Projections 3| are located radially inward with respect to impeller blades 23 thus supplementing the action of blades 23. In other words. projections 3 l act on material which is'out of the path of travel of blades 23. The forward faces 3| of projections 3| as regards the direction of rotation are substantially at right angles to the surface of the flywheel. The rear faces 3| and the radially outer faces 3| are tapered; and the forward radially outer edges 3| are rounded. This gives a generally outwardly tapered shape to the projections so they are somewhat pointed. This shape is of advantage in that the straight flat faces 3| insure the maximum carrying efiect and the pointed contour permits the projections to penetrate readily the material being comminuted. When the machine is started, the impeller blades 23 are quickly thrown outward by centrifugal force so they are not positioned to engage directly waste material in the vicinity of the central portlon of the flywheel. The projections 3|, which may be termed secondary impeller lugs, engage such waste material to start it into rotation so it will be thrown out by centrifugal force into contact with the impeller blades 23. Thus the projections 3| cooperate with the blades 23 to insure that the waste material at the central portion of the flywheel is put into rotation, a thing which in instances, especially if the machine is well packed with soft waste material, might not take place were projections 3| not present.

The sloping surfaces 3 I and the rounded edges 3| are important in that they serve to prevent Jamming of hard material such as a bone between the projections and the side wall It). By reason of such surfaces, any such hard material rather than jamming between the projections and the side wall ID will be directed upwardly by such surfaces.

In the side wall ll) of the shredding chamber at its lower end are a series of straining grooves 32 the upper ends of which communicate with the shredding chamber and the lower ends of which discharge into an annular drain chamber 33 connected tothe outlet 8. Referring particularly to Fig. 9, it will be noted that the grooves 32 are tapered and downwardly directed to discharge comminuted material downwardly past the peripheral edge of the flywheel to the drain cham- 4 ber. The grooves 32 limit the cross section of the particles discharged from the shredding chamber into the drain chamber. To prevent the discharge of long stringy material to the drain line which might pass lengthwise through the straining grooves, the ears 2| are provided with projections 34 having shearing surfaces 34 which are in shearing cooperation with the lower ends of the straining grooves 32, (See Fig. 5). These shearing surfaces clip the long stringy material, reducing it to lengths suitable for discharge to the drain line.

It will be noted that the shearing projections 34 are formed on the flywheel so they rotate therewith and always are positionedto cooperate with the grooves 32. Thus they may be accurately positioned with respect to the lower ends of the grooves 32 and arrangedto have a fixed close clearance with the adjacent surface of the flywheel which close clearance will be maintained at all times.

Below the shearing surfaces 34 are impeller elements 35 which are formed integral with and project downwardly below the flywhee1 (see Fig. 8) and which act as a centrifugal pump to force the flowable mixture of comminuted garbage and water from the drain chamber 33 to the outlet 8. Also, the radially outer portions of ears 2| project beyond the periphery of flywheel l5 to provide additional fiuid-impelling surfaces 36 which increase the pumping action.

Ila

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Since during operation the mixture of garbage and water is in the form of an annulus adjacent the side walls of the shredding chamber, any solid material remaining in the shredding chamber when the motor is stopped will settle onto the fly-wheel adjacent the straining grooves and may sufficiently block the grooves 32 so that the normal sink drainage will not flow through the shredding chamber to the drain line. While the normal sink drainage might seep through in time, this is objectionable since the fluid capacity of the casing is much less than the capacity of the sink. In the present construction, this disadvantage is overcome by straining openings 31 in the disk l1 intermediate the ribs l8 and I9 on the fly-wheel. The straining openings are radially inward of the whirling annulus of water and garbage during the use of the apparatus and accordingly are not blocked by solid material re-- maining in the shredding chamber when the motor is stopped. Since the space between the outer ends of the ribs l8 and I9 is open, passages 38 leading through the straining openings 31 to the drain chamber 33 are provided which by-pass the straining grooves 32 and conduct normal sink drainage to the outlet 8. The straining openings are counter-sunk, as indicated at 39, to provide a smooth upper surface so that material will not be caught on these openings. Solids and liquids falling on these openings during operation of the apparatus are moved centrifugally outward across the upper surface of the openings having a scouring action which tends to keep the open-- ings clean. .Since there is no substantial flow of liquid or solid particles through the straining openings 31 during rotation of the flywheel at its normal speed, the openings 31 can be of larger cross section than the-straining grooves 32 without running the risk of clogging of the drain line. The straining grooves 32 do not carry the normal sink drainage and can therefore be designed solely for the comminuted mixture of waste material. This permits the use of finer straining grooves than has heretofore been advisable.

' In the embodiment of my invention shown in Fig. 1, shearing surfaces 34 are shown as being provided by projections formed integral with the upper edges of ears 2| so they are directly adjacent to impeller blades 23. However, they may be formed otherwise and they may be spaced circumferentially away from blades 23. In Fig. 6, the shearing surfaces 40 are shown as being formed on the ends of flat bars 4| positioned between flywheel l5 and replaceable disk I! at a point circumferentially spaced from blades 23 and held by screws 42. Any suitable number of shearing surfaces may be provided. In Fig. 7, the shearing surfaces 43 are shown as being formed on the ends of flat bars 44 positioned in slots 45 in flywheel l5 and pivoted at their inner ends on pins 46. The slots 45 are of a depth slightly greater than the width of bars 44 so the bars may have a slight up and down movement. When the flywheel is stationary, the bars drop to the bottom of the slots by reason of their weight. When the flywheel is rotating, they are.--

moved to the positions shown in Fig. 7 by centrifugal force due to the distribution of weight of the bars with respect to their pivots.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

'1. In apparatus for comminuting material, a flywheel, a chamber for attachment to a sink drain opening to receive a mixture of liquid and solids, and havin walls surrounding the flywheel, means including an impeller blade on the flywheel projecting axially into the chamber for whirling the liquid and its entrained solids around the walls of' the chamber to comminute the solids and produce a flowable mixture suitable for discharge to a drain line, passages between the flywheel and the adjacent walls of the chamber through which the mixture is flushed to a drain by flow of water from above said flywheel, and passages extending radially interiorly of the body of said flywheel to afford communication between said chamber and said drain below said first named passages for conducting the normal sink drainage when the flywheel is stationary, the en- 4 trance to said flywheel passages being radially inward of said first named passages.

2. A waste disposal unit having a chamber for receiving a mixture of water and solids from the drain opening of a sink, a flywheel at the lower ture suitable for discharge to a drainage space beneath said flywheel, said means producing a whirling movement of said mixture causing it to be-centrifugally moved toward the outside of the chamber, passages between the periphery of the flywheel and the chamber through which the mixture is flushed to said drain space by flow of water from above said flywheel, drainage channels in the upper surface of said flywheel extending from the central portion thereof to the drainage space and a strainer on the flywheel having openings communicating with said channels, some of said openings being in the center area of said flywheel whereby to provide drainage means commencing radially inward of and bypassing said first passages.

flywheel, a chamber for attachment to a sink drain opening to receive a mixture of liquid and solids, and having walls surrounding the flywheel, means including an impeller blade on the flywheel projecting axially into the chamber for whirling the liquid and its entrained solids around the walls of the chamber to comminute the solids and produce aflowable mixture suitable for discharge to drainage means beneath the flywheel, passages between the flywheel and the adjacent walls of the chamber through which the mixture is flushed to said drainage means by flow of water from above said flywheel, channels on the surface of said flywheel and extending angularly outwardly from the center portion thereof to discharge to said drainage means, and a cover disk for said flywheel, said disk having groups of openings individual to each channel to afford communication between said chamber and said drainage means independently of said first named passages, a number of openings of each group beingin the center area of the disk.

4. In apparatus for comminuting material, a flywheel, a shredding chamber formed by a wall surrounding the flywheel, impeller blades on the flywheel at its periphery which project into the chamber and have edges adjacent the surrounding wall, a disk of wear resisting material attached to the top surface of the flywheel covering its radially outer area, said disk having a Diurality of strainer openings disposed inwardly of its periphery, vertically extending discharge grooves in the inner surface of said shredding chamber wall connecting the surface above the flywheel to a drainage space beneath the flywheel, and walls which define a drain passage communicating with said strainer openings and extending from the center portion of the flywheel through the space between said flywheel and said disk to the periphery of the flywheel to discharge into said drainage space below the lower ends of said discharge grooves.

5. In combination, a wall which defines a shredding chamber, shredding projections on the inner surface of said wall, a flywheel positioned in the chamber, impeller blades on the flywheel at its periphery cooperating with said shredding projections, vertically extending discharge grooves in the inner surface of said wall connecting the space above said flywheel to a drainage space beneath the flywheel, walls which deflne a drain passage communicating between said chamber and said drainage space, said passage being beneath the surface of said flywheel and extending from the central portion of the flywheel to the periphery and thence to said drainage space to discharge below the lower ends of said discharge grooves, a projecting means on the periphery of the flywheel which extends beneath said discharge grooves and has a shearing edge for cutting material passing through said discharge grooves, and upwardly projecting lugs on the flywheel spaced radially inward from said impeller blades for engaging material at the central portion of the flywheel to cause it to be rotated with the flywheel.

6. In combination, a wall which defines a shredding chamber, shredding projections on the 55 inner surface of said wall, a flywheel positioned in the chamber, impeller blades on the flywheel at its periphery cooperating with said shredding projections, a disk of wear-resisting material attached to the top surface of the flywheel cover- 7 ing its radially outer portion, vertically extend- 3. In apparatus for comminuting material, a

ing discharge grooves in the inner surface of said wall connecting the space above said flywheel to a drainage space beneath the flywheel, walls which define a drain passage which extends from the central portion of the flywheel through space 7 between said flywheel and said disk to the periphery of the flywheel and thence to said drainage space, the passage communicating with said chamber by means of a plurality of strainer openings in the central area of said disk, a projecting means on the periphery of the flywheel which extends beneath said discharge grooves and has a shearing edge for cutting material passing through said discharge grooves, and upwardly projecting lugs on the flywheel spaced radially inward from said impeller blades for engaging material at the central portion of the flywheel to cause it to be rotated with the flywheel.

JAMES H. POWERS.

The following references are of record in the 8 asmanncss crran ille of this patent:

5 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,434,066 Rogers Oct. 31, 1922 1,816,060 Lee .4 July 28, 1931 2,044,564 Carter June 18, 1936 2,156,075 Alexay Apr. 25, 1939 2,220,729 Powers Nov. 5, 1940 2,225,171 'Hammes Dec. 17, 1940 2,322,058 Powers June 15, 1943 

